Each year, from September 15 through October 15, Hispanic Heritage Month invites us to celebrate the histories, cultures and contributions of Hispanic and Latino communities in the United States. For the Passionists, it is also an opportunity to recognize relationships that have enriched our community and mission for generations.
A Story Woven into Our History
One remarkable connection reaches back more than a century.
In the early 1900s, Holy Cross Province welcomed a group of Spanish Passionists who had been studying for the priesthood in Toluca, Mexico. Forced to leave Mexico during a time of anti-clerical persecution, they found a temporary home with the Passionists in the United States.
After spending time with the Passionist community in St. Paul, Kansas, they traveled to Immaculate Conception Monastery in Chicago to complete their studies. They were ordained to the priesthood at Holy Name Cathedral in 1916.
Two of those young Passionists, Blessed Nicéforo Díez and Blessed Juan Pedro Bengoa, later returned to Spain. Twenty years after their ordination, they would give their lives for their faith as two of the Passionist Martyrs of Daimiel.
Their journey reminds us that the Passionist Family has long crossed borders, languages and cultures. We have welcomed one another, learned from one another and discovered that our shared faith can create bonds stronger than geography.
Faith Lived in Relationship
That story continues today.
Across Holy Cross Province, Hispanic and Latino Catholics bring their faith, traditions, spirituality and gifts to the life of the Church and the Passionist Family. We encounter one another through retreats, parish life, preaching, spiritual formation and many other ministries.
But a list of programs can never tell the whole story.
The deeper story is found in relationships: praying together, sharing meals, celebrating feast days, accompanying families, listening to one another and discovering Christ in people whose experiences may be different from our own.
These encounters remind us that the Church is not simply a collection of communities existing alongside one another. We belong to one Body of Christ.
A Passionist Family Without Borders
Our relationships extend beyond the United States as well. Holy Cross Province continues to share life and mission with the Passionists of Cristo Rey Province in Mexico and with the Passionist Sisters, whose roots are also in Mexico.
These relationships are a reminder that the Passionist charism belongs to no single country, culture or language. The memory of the Passion of Jesus is carried and expressed in many voices.
Hispanic Heritage Month gives us an opportunity to listen more closely to some of those voices and to give thanks for the ways Hispanic and Latino Catholics continue to shape our Church and our Passionist Family.
As we celebrate this month, may we also ask ourselves:
Whose faith and culture have helped me see God in a new way?
How can I make room to listen, learn and build relationships across cultures?
May our shared love of Jesus Crucified continue to draw us closer to one another and help us become a community where every culture is welcomed, every gift is valued and together we keep alive the memory of the Passion.
